Switch.



41. SCHNEIDER;

:mmc-u.A APPLICA'I'NRk ULEU APR- 13. l94.

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' -Pgtnm Aug. 13,1918

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1. sCmvEmER.`

' SWITCH. APPLICATION FILEDl APR. 13. l9l4.

atel'ited Aug. 13, 19m

4SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I 'siding at New York, inthe county of New JOHN SCHNEIDER, 0F NEW YORK, 'EL Y., A-SSIGNOR T0 THE 0F HICKEY AND SCHNEIDER, CONSISTING QF JAMES T. 4HICKEY AND JOHN SCHNEIDER, 0F

Yoan, N. Y.V

Tb alabama may mam.-

Be it knwn thaty L'JOHNQSGHNEIDER, re

`York and Statefof New York, have invented p certain .neity and usefull Improvements in Switches, ofrwhich the` following is a speciii'cation.

This invention relates to a switch particularly adapted. for the control of .high tension .electric currents. i

It iswell known that a .heavy andV ob- .'jectionable spark occurs .upon the breaking of a high tension line. For this reason it has been the practice heretofore to construct switches 4for this purpose so that the spark producing parts are submerged .in oil to the end that the spark maybe avoided. These -construions are unreliable, expensive and l troublesome.

g vAn'object of the present-invention there- -""ffore. is .to provide a switch by means of which a line may be broken in air, and by atv lmore or less lspecific `means ofwhich the ensuing spark may be readily and positively dissipated in a manner thoroughly satis actory. A further object to is provide a switch by-means of which the spark producing terminals or parts. are adapted to give a throwing oii effect to. the spark at the moment of its appearance.

A further object is to provide means for giving definite and proper direction,`and for imparting a dissipating influence upon "the spark, at the moment of and following its inception.

' Other objects and `"ns of the invention7 in those referredto above, will be in part obvious and in part pointed .out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations,

arrangements of parts and applications of 'Api-inciples, constituting the invention; and

the scope of protection contemplated will be indic'ated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification,

and in which I .have shown a merely pre-y ferred form of embodiment or" the invent so tion

' right angles to the' view shown inFig. 1,

Specicationof Letters Patent. Appleman-mea April 1a, 1914. serial au. 831,556.

Figure "l .is la side elevational view of a SWITCH.

illustrating a battery, of switches connected for simultaneous operation ;V

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of one of the switches and the mountings therefor, parts being illustrated in vertical section for disclosing structural details;

' Fig. 4 is a' top plan view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 3; and

Patented Aug. 1s, 191s Figs. 5, e, 7, s, 9, 1o, 11, and 12 illustrate y modifications.

Referring to the drawings for a detailed description of the structure illustrated, the

reference character L indicates a base plate upon which the switch or switches are mounted. The base plate L may be carried upon any suitable support, but preferabl l is carried at the upper end of a towerI so that the mechanism carried by the basel plate is elevated to a proper level for safety.

Since each of the switches in the battery,

illustrated in Fig. 2, is identical in its construction and (peration, one .only thereof' will be describe Mounted upon the upper surface of the 'l base L is a plurality of insulators 1, 2, 3 and 4. These may be of any suitable type.

A plate 5 is mounted upon the upper ends ofthe insulators 1 and 2, and `a similar late 6 is mounted uponthe upper ends o the insulators -3 and .4. All of the insulators arepreferably arranged in a row, and insu' lators numbered 2 and 3 are spaced a suitable distance apart. The plate 5 carries a vpiv'ot pin 7 upon which is mounted a contact blade 8 projecting toward the insulator 3, but vterminating -short thereof and belng adapted to swing upwardly. The

mounted a contact blade 10 projecting to- 4ward the insulator 2, but terminating short plate 6 carries a pivot pin 9 upon which is blades over-lap each other when in hori` zontal position, as indicated in full lines in Fig. 3, and one thereof, as the blade 8, is biturcated to receive the lapping portions of the other thereof, as 10. y

The contact blades'S and 10 are each formed with an upwardly extending arm 11. Links. 12 .extend vfrom Vsaid arms to crank arms 13 Icarried upon operatingshafts 14.

The shafts lll-are `connected to be simul- .taneouslyoperated by 'a controlling handle H arranged at a suitable point for convenico . plates.

ient operation by an operator standing upon the ground, and the portions oi' said shafts to which the crank arms 13 are connected, are insulated from the remaining portions by the insulators 1 and 4. The particular man ner of interposing the insulators 1 and 4` is not essential tothis invention, but, that illustrated may be described as including a pair of standards 15 and 1G rotatably mounted upohthe upper surface of the base L and' having the insulators 1 'and l ref spectively rigidly connected t0 rotate therewith, the insulators being provided with sockets'17 in their lowery ends into which the upper ends of the standards are ceniented. Sockets 18 are formed inthe upper ends ot' the insulators into which pins are fixed. The pins project. upwardly from the upper ends of theinsulators, through bearing apertures 18 formed in the plates 5 and (i and carry the crank arms 13 above said These pins may be referred to as the ends of the operating shafts.

The standards 15 and 16 have attached thereto socket members :20 and 21 respectively projecting downwardly therebeneath and through hearing apertures formed in the base l1. The soeket'men'iber 20 carries a short shaft Q3 to .which is attached a crank arni 24, the socket member Q1 carries a short shaft to which is attached a crank arm 26. connected by a link 27 so that movement .of one crank arm imparts a similar movement to the other.

llihere a batteryof switches is to be operated, for instance as illustrated in Fig. 2,

the short shaft 25 of each of the switches has attached thereto an additional crank arm 28, and said crank arms 28 are connectcd tor simultaneous operation by means of links 29. Any number of switches may is connected to the intermediate switch ot'.

the threefillustrated. Themanner of connection simply.A includes a shaft 30 fixed to and rotatable with the handle H by its lower end and being attached to, or formed as a continuation of, the short shaft 25 of sai intermediate switch.

The lower end of ,the shaft 30 projects through a bearing plate 31 and the operating handle H is arranged beneath said hearing plate and isy I )referablyl formed 'with a tongue 32 `for engaging with a notch 33 formed inv the underside of said bearing plate when the handle is moved to position for opening the swith. or switches. bviously 4two or more notches 33 may be provided ior retaining the handles iu their positions, if desired. The handle is obviously connected to swing in a vertical plane, and

The crank arms Q4 and 2U are ramene the tongue 32 disengages fre-.inthe notch or notchesr 33 vwhen the handle is swung to horizontal or operating position; lV hen the desired movement of the switch or switches has been accomplished, then the handle is lowered and the tongue 32 enters one' of the notches 33 to retain the switches in that position so long as the handleremains lowered.

lt will be lunderstood that rotation of the shaft 30 rotates all of the insulators 1 and land swings all of the arms 11 outwardly andall of the Contact blades 8 and 10 upwardly with a simultaneous movement. As Athe contact blades swing upwardly their lapping portions disengage from each other, the spark produced by the disengagement however is produced at a moment when the blades are moving upwardly at a greater or less speed, and will naturally be influenced by this motion and be thrown oil' upwardly.` Both of the blades being in movement, there will be no tendency for the spark to hang on, the case where one oythe blades is stationary, as is common.

ln order to protect the ends of the blades `from being burnt by the spark, and in order 'Further to more effectively dissipate the spark` it is a part ot' this invention to protl'ierewith. These horns are extended along the side of the blades in lapping engagement, as best shown in Fig. 4, to a point slightly beyond the ends of the respective blades whence they are bent upwardly-at an obtuse angle substantially as indicated in Fig. 8. As fthe blades move upwardly to break the circuit the horns remain in con-' tact.'y until alter the blades have moved a little distance apart, as indicated by the light dotted lines in'Fig, 3. The resultant spark appears between the horns therefor rather than between the blade so that the horns will receive the damage, it any, incident to the heat of the spark. As the blades are moved farther aparttoward the fully opened position, as indicated by heavy dotted lines in Fig. 8, the spark will be thrown off in the same manner as it directly between the blades, except. that the angular disposition of the ends ot the horns at this time, as'suggested by the dotted lines in Fig. 3, will 'have a dissipating. influence thereon which will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. t vThe horns are rela-tively inexpensive and are preferably attached to the .blades by means, .as at 36, which will permit their ready disengagement, for the purpose of renewal or otherwise. l t 'lfhe structures illustrated in Figs. 5 to 10 indicate various ways in' which this invention may be carried out for producing results oi like kind to those heretofore described. The. efficiency oi these moditied arlll@ rangements, however, lis not at thistime believcd to be as greatas' that shown in Figs.

`lto4.

ln Fig. 5, the horns and38 areshown' to be stationary rather than movable with the lContact blades as in Figs. l and 3. ln this instance the Contact blades separate, and though the spark is produced directly' between the end portions of said blades, these portions of the contact-blades move almost immediately into position, as indicated in dotted lines of Fig. 5,l where the spark is transferred to the horns. The contact blades may bein rubbing-'contact with the horns throughout .their movement ifl desired, though where the horns are in electrical Contact with the supporting plate of the blades as illustrated, it is not necessary to provide an actual rubbing contact. ln operationthe movementof the contact blades ltir-ward the positionshown in dotted lines imparts a certain movement or'throwing on' of the horns. l

The structure 1n F1g. 7, shows one of the horns as 40 to be stationary, and the adjacent contact blade as 41 to be movable adjacent thereto, as in Fig. 5, whereas the other horn is carried by and movable vwith the other contact blade, as in Figs. l and 3. In the open position of the contact blades the horns occupy substantially the same positions as in the former figures, and the result is ot the, same kind. A Y

ln the structure of Fig. 8, one movable Contact as 42 only is employed. This con tact moves into the same relative position to a hornl 43 as in the structure of Fig.v 5,4 the horn being stationary. The other horn as 44 is alsostationary with a stationary contact 45, and is arranged adjacent to the end of.

the n'iovable Contact, so that as said movable contact swings upwardly, said end thereof will draw gradually away from the horny 44. ihe resultant spark will lengthen andv move upwardlj; as the Contact 42 moves and when the end of the Contact 42 reaches the position, indicated in dotted lines the upward momentum or throwing o l" influence imparted to the spark will induce it to continue its upward movement along the diverging portion of thetwo horns as in the other figures.

The structure shown in Fig. 9, is .somea i the horn 50.

' each other.

what-similar to that shown irfFig. 8. The essential difference losing lthat the horn 46 for the movable contact 47 in Fig. 9, is carried byy and movable withv said contact.

tact 4.9, engaging therewith as in Fig. 8. Inv p this instancethe movable contact carries a horn 50, said horn being movable with the Contact 49. The opposing horn, as 51, is pivotally mounted in a bearing 552, to swing upwardly in unison with .the movement of In the structure shown in Fig. 11, thecontact blades are mounted upon pivotally supported insulators `54. Arms 55 are connected to the insulators and project toward The adjacent ends of the arms are pivotally connected to the member end of a push rod 56., The hand lever 57 is'arranged for moving lthe rod 56 to swing the insulators about their pivots. Horns as-58 are attached to the blades 53, preferably in the same manner as shown in Fig. l, thou h in this modification a horn bentbackw'ardy, as indicated, so that when the insulators are swung. to separate the blades', the horn will stand in .proper diverging relation.

.It is not entirely essential to this invention that the blades swing upwardly so long as the horns are employed, for the horns will produce, in a measure, the 'same result of inducing the spark to travel upwardly.

It is also contemplated that anadjustable counterweight', such as illustrated at 58 in Fig. 12, may be employed in connection with the moving contact blades for assisting the movement and for retaining the blades in circuit braking position after they have once been moved to such position.

As 'many changes'could be made in this construction without departing from the scope of the following claims, it is intended that all n'iatter contained in the above construction or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention what claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is: v

1. A switch comprising a air of 4contact blades projecting toward eac other having their adjacent end portions contacting, the,

opposite ends of said contact blades being pivotallv mounted, me is 'for swingingsaid blades about ltheir pivotal mountings to move their adjacent ends-out of contacting relation, including arms formed upon said contact blader-s, linlrsconnected to said arms, a

pair of" rotatable members having'crank armste which said links connected respeetively, and-means For simultaneously operating said rotats-.ble members for simultaneously operating both of said Contact blades.

2. A switch comprising;- a pair of contact blades projecting toward each other having their adjacent end portions contacting, the opposite ends of said contact blades being pivotally mounted, means for swinging said blades about their pivotal mountings to move their adjacent ends out ot" contacting relation, including arms carried by said contact blades, links connected to said arms, a pair of rotatable members vhaving crank arms thereon to which said links are connected respectively, means for rotating one of said rotatable i'nenibers,vother crank arms formed on said rotatablemembers, and a link connecting said last crank arms to iinpart movement of one to the other for simultaneously operating both of said Contact blades. y

3. A. switch, comprising a pair of Contact blades projecting toward each other in a substantially horizontal plane having their adjacent end portions contacting, the opposite ends of thev Contact blades being piv- Lara'soo otally mounted to permit the Contact yblades to swing in a vertical plane into and out of' l) contacting relation, and means tor swinging said Contact blades about their pivotal moiintings comprising laterally extending arms formed iipon said Contact blades, a

` pair of vertically arranged rotatably mounted operating shafts one adiaeent each of first mentioned operating shaft may be manually rotated at will.

In testimony whereby I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

l JUHN' SCHNEIDER. Witnesses: Y

L. Gassman HANDY', LEO M. Eisiixizianoi 

